By creating conversation, we let our customers spread our message by word of mouth.

I started The Body Shop in 1976 simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters, while my husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas. I had no training or experience and my only business acumen was Gordon's advice to take sales of £300 a week. Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.

A woman in advancing old age is unstoppable by any earthly force. I love it.

If civilization is going to survive, business and policy-makers must move on, to find within themselves more developed emotions than fear or greed.

Internationalism means that we can see into the dark corners of the world, and hold those companies to account when they are devastating forests or employing children as bonded labour. Globalization is the complete opposite, its rules pit country against country and workers against workers in the blinkered pursuit of international competitiveness.

If there is excitement in their lives, it is contained in the figures on the profit and loss sheet. What an indictment.

Communication is the key for any global business.